Friday, June 28, 2013

Life from death

When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, "My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live." So Jesus went with him.
    

A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, "If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed." Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering...

While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher any more?" Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, "Don't be afraid; just believe." He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, "Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep." But they laughed at him.
    

After he put them all out, he took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha koum!" (which means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!"). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat (Mark 5:21-29, 35-43).


Death is big business.  If you have ever planned a funeral, you know how much money can be involved.  The biggest expense is the casket, of course, but there are other costs as well. You have to purchase a gravesite and a marker.  People must be paid—the ambulance staff and the hospital, the funeral director and the presiding minister, the organist and the gravedigger. Even with the help of insurance, burying someone is expensive.

Death is big business in other ways too.  Look at the amount of money spent on war.  Training soldiers and fitting them with gear.  Building field artillery and tanks, submarines and aircraft carriers, helicopters and bombers, nuclear missiles and spy satellites.  Much of your tax money is spent on death.

But it does not stop there.  Death is also big business in the field of entertainment.  Books about sexy vampires.  Movies about cannibalistic zombies.  TV shows where people speak to ghosts.  Such forms of entertainment rake in oodles of money.

Funerals are inevitable.  War is a constant problem.   Paying for these things cannot be avoided.  But less easy to explain is the fascination with undead monsters like vampires, ghosts and zombies.  Why do monsters spawned by death fascinate us so?

I think it is because of our fear of death.  Have you ever thought about the end of your life?  Have you tried to imagine not existing any more?  Frankly, I can’t wrap my head around it.  I can’t imagine ceasing to be, falling into a dreamless sleep and never waking up.  I’m not sure anyone can truly accept the idea that they might stop thinking, stop feeling, stop existing. 

And I believe that is why undead monsters are so fascinating.  When the dead walk, it suggests that as terrible as it is, death is not the end.  In some fashion, those who have died continue on.  Vampires and ghosts give hope that the grave does not completely extinguish us.

Death is the ultimate leveler—rich or poor, smart or dumb, popular or outcast, death claims everyone.  Nobody escapes the chill touch of the grave.  But the fear of death is a powerful thing—it makes us go to extremes to avoid it.  If we are in danger, we instinctively fight back or run away instead of letting ourselves be killed.  Some people fight off death by committing themselves to a healthy diet, vigorous exercise, or a shelf full of pill bottles.  Others hide from approaching death by getting cosmetic surgery or refusing to attend funerals. 

But there are some people who respond to death differently.  Although death is the enemy, they try to make it their friend.  They convince themselves that death can be a force that makes their lives better.  Have an unwanted pregnancy?  Death can offer you a solution—get an abortion.  Maybe you are suffering—the person you love has gone away never to return, or you are afflicted with chronic pain that cannot be managed.  Death can offer you relief—end the suffering by committing suicide. What if your marriage has gone sour and you don’t want your ex to have joint custody of the kids?  Death offers a suggestion—why not murder the person that you’ve come to hate?  In ways like this, death becomes a friend—a friend with a pasty white face and a touch that chills you to the bone.

Thankfully, most people are sensible enough to realize that death is no friend. That’s why we try so hard to avoid it.  Death pulls loved ones from our embrace.  Death stops us from reaching our goals.  Death forces unwanted change into our lives, pulling the rug out from under us. 

So how do you cope with death?  We want some kind assurance that death is not the end.  Many look for this comfort by trying to create a legacy.  The Pharaohs of Egypt built pyramids and magnificent tombs to commemorate their greatness for all future ages.  We put up statues to honor men and women who did great things.  We name cities, streets and buildings for people we think should be remembered.  We place grave markers at the tombs of our loved ones and count it a tragedy when someone’s body cannot be recovered for internment. 

There are other ways to build a legacy.  Soldiers put their lives on the line in the hope of making the world a better place.  Parents hope that each child will grow into a person that gives honor to the family name.  Wealthy people establish trust funds and foundations to be their legacy for future generations.  Politicians try to make a lasting name for themselves through landmark legislation.

If we can’t live forever, we at least want to live on in memory.  In the movie Titanic, Celine Dion sung the words you are safe in my heart and my heart will go on.  We read this sentiment in sympathy cards and hear it from the lips of those who are trying to offer comfort.  “So long as he lives in our memory, he’s never truly gone.”  But time strips these words of any comfort.   What becomes of memory when the mind is attacked by Alzheimer’s Disease?  How many generations will go by until little is remembered about you except for your name?  How many old photos do you have that contain people who are faces with no identity? 

Death takes people from this world, and time erodes both memory and legacy.  And so we hunger for the promise of new life.  We love to watch a butterfly emerging from its cocoon; although it was never really dead, it seems as if life has burst forth from the wrapping of grave clothes.  In the spring, we rejoice to see new life budding on a tree that has looked dead for months.  The hunger for rebirth is even woven into our mythology.  There is the story of the phoenix, a bird that rises anew from the ashes of its fiery death.  In Norse mythology, Ragnarok was the terrible war that would leave earth destroyed; yet after that final conflict a new world would rise and be filled with glorious life.  Individually and collectively, we desperately want the hope of never ending life.

The ugly, inescapable truth is this: death cannot be avoided.  Death cannot be disguised as something good.  Death is a problem that no human being can solve.  Death is a tragedy that all mankind holds in common.  No matter what causes it, we weep, we get angry, we become fearful, we get depressed.  And we ask why?  Why did that person have to die?  Why do I have to die?  It just doesn’t seem fair.

There is only one place where that question is answered: in the pages of God’s holy book.  The Bible is God’s message of life to we who are afflicted by death.  In those sacred pages, we are told why death is necessary.  We are also told how death can be overcome.

Death haunts us all, because each of us is a sinner.  Paul writes, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).  He is repeating what God has said for a long time—they have all become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not a single one (Psalm 14:3).  We sin whenever we make God angry, and we make Him angry a lot.  Jesus summed up God’s Law this way: `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself ' (Matthew 22:37-39). We break God’s law when we act impulsively, doing things without first asking the Lord for guidance.  We break God’s law when we give Him our leftover time and money or ignore Him altogether.  We break God’s law when we make fun of people and push them around.  We break God’s law when we separate sex from marriage.  We break God’s law when we lie and cheat and spread gossip.  We break God’s law when we treat possessions with more love and respect than we do God or each other.

We all sin a lot.  We all sin every day.  And that sin causes hurt—it hurts God who wants the world to be perfect.  It hurts other people as we step all over them to get our way.  And it hurts us as we ignorantly put ourselves in danger for the sake of illicit or reckless pleasure.  Left unchecked, sin causes a never-ending cascade of pain and disappointment.  So God steps in.  He checks the spread of sin with death.  Death is God’s curse on sin; we die because we are sinners.

I said earlier that we are fascinated with the undead—vampires, zombies, ghosts.  In point of fact, our world is filled with the undead, people who are moving but have no life within them.  This is the effect of sin—it fills us with death even while we are still walking around.  Listen to Paul, writing in Ephesians chapter two: As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world.  From God’s perspective, a sinner is a zombie—dead, but sadly unaware of the fact.

But God is the giver of life.  This is why He sent His Son to earth—to replace death with life.  It starts, as it must, with the soul.  What good is a moving body if there is no life in its eyes?  Jesus came to change the undead into the living—He did this by offering His own life in exchange.  Jesus died so our souls might live, forgiven the sin that results in death.  Listen again to the words of Paul, this time recorded in Colossians chapter two: When you were dead in your sins…God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins

But Jesus did not stop there.  When the Lord of Life died, His stay in the tomb was brief.  Jesus rose from the grave alive on the third day, breaking death’s grip on His body and ours. He told His disciples, Because I live, you shall live also (John 14:19).  Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter. Jesus raised Lazarus. Jesus will raise you and me and all who place their faith in Him as Lord and Savior. Our Master said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die (John 11:11:25-26).

Death is the enemy; Christ is your Friend.  Don’t try to fight death on your own; you cannot succeed.  There is no way for you to hide from death, either.  Don’t try to make death into a friend; abortion, suicide and murder only cause more pain and suffering in the world.  Cling to Jesus, because He makes alive what once was dead.  He forgives your sins and He will summon you from the grave.  Only Jesus can free us from death’s cold, bony grip.

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